


One Day, Every Day, Always

by lexi_con



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Dimvain week 2020, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, M/M, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Pining, Rating May Change, Reincarnation, Sappy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,259
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22526548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexi_con/pseuds/lexi_con
Summary: Dimitri has found the diaries of King Dimitri, his ancestor and namesake. As he reads them through he feels a deeper connection to this man who lived so long ago, but also to someone much closer.Dimivain week 2020 collection!
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 60





	1. Komorebi

**Author's Note:**

> I’m so happy about Dimivain week! I hope you all will have a good time and enjoy this fic that will span the week through!

_1st of Lone moon, 1187_

_Dear diary,_

_It has been so long since I took a pen in hand to write in length. Even longer since I wrote simply because I could. Professor told me it would be good for me to try and get my thoughts out on paper since I find it hard to speak of them._

_I do not know if this will work, but I am willing to give it a try. Sylvain told me he will join me in this pastime, to keep me motivated. I appreciate his support greatly._

_I realize I have never told him this, even after all we have been through and him staying with me through it all. Truly, I do not deserve such loyalty._

_When I see him next I will tell him how grateful I am._

Dimitri didn’t expect his namesake and ancestor to start his diary so mellowly. Every account he had ever heard was that the Tempest king was a dignified and proud leader. It seemed almost bizarre that he seemed to suffer from some kind of depression. Tales of his battles had survived the centuries since his reign and the five years he spent in exile were Dimitri’s favourite part about the king’s legend. 

Though there was a lot of trauma in the king’s early life with the Tragedy of Duscur and subsequent events, being negatively affected would make sense from a modern standpoint. You just never see the vulnerable sides of the heroes of old in the legends. Probably doesn’t make a good bedtime story.

_7th of Lone moon, 1187_

_Dear diary,_

_Already I have forgotten to write for days. Had it not been for the Professor asking me about it I would have probably never picked you up again. I feel a little silly, talking to myself like this. I mentioned it to Sylvain. He told me I should be used to this already. I’m not sure what he meant._

_Today the weather was pleasant. Ingrid tried to offer Felix a flight on her pegasus. I don’t think I have ever seen Felix run away before. Sylvain fell to the floor in laughter. Dedue offered to go get his wyvern to join her. She did not decline. I am happy to see they get along better._

_I am not sure if this is how to write a diary._

It is stilted and Dimitri thinks back to the times he tried to write a diary when he was younger. He imagines it would be quite similar, not knowing what to include and so unused to being open he would be unable to do much more than retell the day word for word. Still, it is interesting to see the going ons in the private circle of friends that surrounded King Dimitri. 

He had no idea how these diaries hadn’t been discovered and turned in to researchers already, but as he turns the pages Dimitri is thankful to whoever decided to keep them. He had been fascinated with the tales of his ancestor ever since he learned they were related, so basically all his life. He knows he should turn all of this in to the authorities, and he will, but he wants to read these words for himself first. It’s a thrill to think that he might be the first to read the king’s words in hundreds of years. 

As he sits in the afternoon sun that streams in through the window he forgets time while flipping the pages. Slowly the entries become longer, spanning several pages as the king recounts his thoughts throughout the day. He talks about how he gets so tired negotiating with the nobles of the old alliance and how he wants to throw them all out, how his advisors tell him not to. Except for the Margrave Gautier who seems to be encouraging actions that would lead to political instability from time to time. It’s funny, the Margrave seems quite like—

”Dimitri, are you in there?,” a familiar voice calls from the door to his room and Dimitri tears his gaze from the recounting of yet another epic incident caused by the Baroness Dominic’s clumsiness. 

”I am,” Dimitri confirms as his eyes land on Sylvain, his childhood friend and, funnily enough the descendant of the Margrave Gautier he reads about in the king’s diary. Just like the old records describe and the surviving depictions show, this Sylvain has flaming red hair and lively brown eyes that compliment his beautiful face. If the Margrave truly looked like that Dimitri would have no difficulty believing the stories about his many romantic conquests.

Dimitri wishes he had the courage to say that out loud.

"I heard you found something interesting in your attic," Sylvain says as he approaches the window where Dimitri is sitting. Unquestioningly Dimitri curls his legs so Sylvain can sit across from him. They always do this when Sylvain comes over but Dimitri's heart still flutters when Sylvain smiles at him, features illuminated by the sun as if he were an angel. 

Dimitri nods, carefully thumbing on the leather cover of the diary, "it's the personal writings of king Dimitri."

Sylvain's beautiful eyes widen, his shapely lips falling open around a silent breath of surprise. His gaze has found the large chest that Dimitri had placed in the corner of his room, the Blaiddyd crest adorning it. It was huge, barely fitting through the doors in the house, and filled with hundreds of books, all of which Dimitri presumes are the personal thoughts of the king. 

"I can't believe it…" Sylvain says, staring at the chest in shock, "they still exist…"

Dimitri nods in agreement, it _is_ surprising to find something so valuable intact, "it is a great opportunity to actually get to know what life was like for him."

Sylvain snaps out of his frozen state, masking it with the usual easy smile, "must be a real treasure trove for you."

"Do you want to read them? I'm almost finished with the first one," Dimitri measures the pages with his fingers, only a few left. For some reason Sylvain hesitates, face contorting with confliction.

"You sure there aren't any family secrets I'm not supposed to know?" Sylvain jokes, but it doesn't carry across, not when his expression doesn't carry any of his trademark carefreeness.

"I'm sure. I want to share this with the world, so why not start with you?" 

Sylvain looks at Dimitri for a moment, studying him. The brown eyes have a piercing sharpness to them, as if he is trying to pick Dimitri apart with it. But then he blinks and the steely edge is replaced by familiar fondness, one that makes Dimitri warm, cheeks surely reddening.

"Thanks, that means a lot to me."


	2. Fromage

Sylvain has been coming over every day since he found out Dimitri had found the king's diaries. Not that Dimitri isn't happy about it or that he wouldn't understand why, he just...finds it hard to concentrate with Sylvain here.

Today Sylvain had come over with one of his family's famous cheese plates. Dimitri had always loved the Gautier brand of cheese, but the wheels made at their own private home is just something else that mass production can't replicate. It's rare to get a chance to taste it with the long aging process and the fact that only Sylvain and his direct family has access to it. Dimitri heard that someone once purchased one wheel for an astronomical sum, as a favour to one of their business partners, yet Sylvain just  _ brings some over _ from time to time. Today was such a time and Dimitri is letting the creamy snack melt on his tongue, the savoury flavour spreading over his palate. 

But cheese wasn't the real reason why Dimitri was distracted. It was all the  _ other _ things that came with Sylvain's personally crafted cheese that was causing his inability to read words this calm evening, because those things are what Sylvain eats. Dimitri suspects it is because Sylvain is leaving the cheese to him, with it being his favourite food, but Sylvain could equally as well be eating them to get a rise out of Dimitri. 

Their hands are gloved, because of the flipping of old papers that would react poorly to the oils on their skin, but Sylvain has one hand free that he every so often uses to reach for a grape that sits on the tray between them. That in itself isn't a problem, but it's  _ the way _ he eats them. 

Sylvain reaches forward with his hand and brings one grape back to him. Teases the fruit against his cupid bow before catching it between his lips, sometimes his fingers pushes it inside, others he keeps it there with his teeth before his tongue rolls it backwards to chew. 

God, Dimitri cannot stop looking. 

Especially not when Sylvain's mouth curls with a smile every so often as he reads about King Dimitri and his court. It is almost as if the redhead can see the scenes play out before him with how tender his expression is. Dimitri wonders what part he's at. Maybe it's when duke Fraldarius comes to tell the king about his first child being on the way? Or could it be about when the royal retainer revealed his desire to propose to his chosen lover?

All of them were heartwarming, but as Dimitri had read further he realized that King Dimitri never wrote about his own love life. He often mentioned how grateful he was for all his friends, especially the royal retainer and the Margrave as they were his closest advisors in the palace. 

Dimitri looks up from his brief glance at the diary before him to gaze across the table at his friend and his beautiful face.

He has to wonder if maybe the king also had someone he loved he couldn't tell. 

The answer surely lies in all these texts and Dimitri can't lie, he really wants to know. There are no tales of King Dimitri's spouse, only that he had a lifelong partner that he had a number of children with. Not many personal accounts have survived since that time, only mean-spirited tavern songs and official documents give the modern world an idea of how life looked back then. That's why these diaries are so precious. Why he feels so emotional over them. 

_ 30th of Ethereal Moon, 1187 _

_ Dear diary, the new year is upon us. Ever since my birthday I have felt restless, unable to calm myself. My mind is occupied with thoughts of what I should do but I have no one to confide in. Ever since the death of my parents I have felt lonely, isolated. My friends have helped me get better, to not succumb to the loneliness inside. But i still feel they are distant, that I cannot truly connect. I wonder if this loneliness comes from my urge to touch, to be touched.  _

_ When my parents were alive skinship wasn't unusual but after  _ that _ incident I was averse to touch. By the time I realized I wanted intimacy I didn't know how to receive or give it. I forgot what love felt like, thought it was a fragile thing I could never hold in my own palm. _

_ During the feast my friends had prepared for my birthday I got a little intoxicated and some of the inhibitions I have long harboured disappeared. It was strange, feeling someone else's warmth under my hand. I wanted to touch more, even when Sylvain indulged my needs and let me cling to him all evening. Goddess, I wanted to touch so much more. _

_ I wonder if I will ever deserve to hold love in my hand.  _

"You and me both, Your Majesty…" Dimitri mutters, fingers raking through his hair. 

"Hm? You said something?" Sylvain asks, gaze leaving the pages he had been reading for the first time in hours. 

Dimitri's cheek twitch with the effort to smile as effortlessly as Sylvain always does, but he fails miserably, face probably in a grimace, "no, nothing important."

Sylvain studies him for half a moment before he looks down to the tray between them, "what, you don't like cheese anymore?" 

Dimitri looks down to the wheel where there's only a small piece missing, the one that had been in his mouth but had melted away without him noticing. "I was just absorbed in my reading," Dimitri says and is about to reach forward with his gloved fingers, but Sylvain turns the tray around so the knife to cut with is out of his reach. Instead Sylvain picks it up and makes a slice. He brings it to his lips but instead of eating it all he just bites the tip before reaching his hand across the table, shoving the piece against Dimitri's mouth.

"I just had to check if there was something wrong, since you haven't gulped it all down yet," Sylvain smiles around the words, "I'm pleased to tell you there's nothing wrong with it."

Dimitri blushes as he opens his mouth to accept the cheese, lips closing around the very tip of Sylvain's finger. It lingers just long enough against his bottom lip for Dimitri to wonder if maybe it was...on purpose?

"There you go," Sylvain praises, "it's all yours."

"You're too good to me," Dimitri huffs to hide his giddiness as Sylvain turns the cheese plate again.

Sylvain smiles, touching the finger that had been pressed to Dimitri's lips to his own, "anything for you, Dimitri."


End file.
